The present invention relates to diving computers. The generic term "computer" is used in the field of diving equipment for those kinds of devices that include a processing unit which uses a given algorithm to process the data about length of time underwater and depth, supplied, respectively, by a timer which is started at the beginning of the dive and a pressure sensor. From its calculations, the processing unit then produces an output consisting of how many more minutes the diver can stay before deviating from the decompression curve, which relates the length of time spent underwater to the depth. Auxiliary data are also provided, such as the amount of time spent underwater and the greatest depth reached.
When the values deviate from the decompression curve, whether through some accidental error or a deliberate act, the so-called computer has the capacity to give an acoustic and/or visual signal. It is designed to detect dangerous situations and to respond by emitting an alarm in a large number of cases, as many as ten or more in the more sophisticated models. In addition, many computers are able to store the dive history in the memory of the processing unit, and even to annotate errors committed.
However, the devices described above present the drawback of not keeping a sort of "list" of errors committed visible throughout the dive. The danger of this is that an accumulation of small errors can expose the diver to serious danger. Moreover, the system generally fails to discriminate between more serious errors and minor errors, which it reports without distinguishing between them